and this is how the world ends
by envysparkler
Summary: Stella can't remember when her dream turned into a nightmare, and also when Ray Beech showed up in the middle of it all. - Stella/Ray, AU.


**a/n:** Another one for Mister Monster. This is part of my oneshot anniversary celebration! I've spent four years on fanfiction, whoo!

 **dedication:** To the apocalypse.

 **disclaimer:** I don't own Lemonade Mouth.

 **summary:** Stella can't remember when her dream turned into a nightmare, and also when Ray Beech showed up in the middle of it all. - Stella/Ray, AU.

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 _ **and this is how the world ends**_

* * *

It's war. Chaos grows in all direction, feeding on the dead and dying. It's a seething mass of contradictions and its appetite grows by the day.

Stella watches the shadows approach and tightens her hold on her knife. She can do nothing to stop the onslaught. Nothing but endure and she is so _tired_ of enduring.

She endured as the sun went out and the skies went dark. She endured as her family fell, as her friends fell, and her fans fell. She endured as she watched countless humans sucked into the malevolent destruction that was enveloping the world.

"Stay strong," he says, as if he can read her mind. He might – Stella cannot tell where reality ended, where the bloody mass of darkness cracked the veil of fantasy.

"I don't need that from you," she retorts and turns back to battle. Insulting Ray Beech has a sort of balance to it – an order she desperately needs. She doesn't know when he appeared – perhaps he was always there, inserting his snide comments as she slashed her way through faceless legions.

"Then what do you need from me?" he laughs – a full, deep-throated laughs and Stella watches the way the dead light catches his blond hair. He slays yet another one of the twisted monsters and the noise stops. The clearing is silent, for now.

The storm looms on the horizon, a reminder that their battle will never end.

"I need you to shut up," Stella says, but there's no bite to it. Ray joins her in watching the storm clouds. For a moment, he is silent.

"That's not what you really need," he says softly and Stella is struck by his solemnity. They are standing in a clearing over the dead remains of the creatures they just killed, and Ray is looking at her like she's the sun come to life again.

Stella turns away. "We need to move," she says curtly. Ray doesn't argue – he might already know. Stella feels the churn in her stomach as she tenses for another fight.

She remembers that it told them that it can make dreams come true. And she remembers how no one questioned it, no one came forward, no one even _thought_.

Because nightmares are dreams too.

They fall into a routine, as much of a routine as is possible in a world decimated by chaos. They fight and fight. They snipe at each other and every once in a while, Ray will say something that will take her by surprise.

Life continues. The chaos grows, but Stella has no concern for the future. Not when she has to concentrate to survive the here and now. They see less and less people – the planet is succumbing.

Ray is always present, even when Stella thinks he'll disappear. She vows not to rely on him because nothing is constant in a world breaking apart.

She breaks that vow.

Stella fights and fights and cannot imagine a world before the fighting. A world where Ray was not always present at her side, defending her. A world where Ray didn't tuck one of the last flowers behind her ear, smiling. A world where he didn't try to make her laugh with his jokes.

Her world is Ray, now.

There's always the threat of death and destruction, but they make it work. Stella weaves brambles into a bracelet. Ray hands her a crown made of weeds. They lay down next to each other in the brief respite, and trace out shapes in the dark clouds.

And then, one day, he's gone.

Stella wakes up cold, because he isn't there at her side. The crown of weeds falls apart at the slightest touch. There's a long gash on her side because she forgot that Ray wasn't there to protect her back. He vanishes suddenly and Stella realizes that she went in too deep.

It was just another trick, another ploy. The real Ray Beech might've died ages ago. A deception, orchestrated by the darkness now almost completely covering the planet.

And the part Stella hates the most is that it worked. She spent all her energy on Ray, her love, her hope, her life. Energy she could've used to find a way to stop the malignant powers behind the destruction of her planet. She was humanity's last hope.

And she failed.

Stella watches the storm clouds grow. There's a sliver of sky left – a sliver in which she can see a few stars twinkle. But as she watches, the clouds roil – lightning flashes in arcs and thunder booms. The sliver becomes smaller and smaller and smaller.

Until there's nothing left.

It's over. Chaos has won. It's taken everything from her.

Stella drops to her knees and waits for death.

* * *

 **fin**

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 **a/n:** So. This is apparently a story. It can be alternate universe, or sci-fi, or a game, or all in Stella's head. It's your perception.


End file.
